Oddities
by corkchop
Summary: Settled down at last, the main characters are living an uneventful life at the mansion. But when overly-cheery Sinead shows up without notice, and makes herself at home, some queer happenings occur. /Is being rewritten/
1. Chapter 1

_I`m Your Only Friend, Yours Truly_

**A/N: This will be a multi-chapter, maybe a three-shot. The horror will come soon! :D**

"I win, I win!" Dan Cahill crowed as he began performing a Snoopy-happy dance.

"Get off me, you bony dweeb." mumbled Amy as she unsuccessfully attempted to smother a laugh.

Dan untangled himself from the pinning position and straightened his posture, "You have got to admit, Sister-San that I beat you at training fair and square."

"Maybe," she launched herself at his legs and tackled him, "But you will never be the first one to triumph over double-chocolate chip cookies. I will always uphold that honor.

The slender Cahill leapt catlike to her feet and raced toward the kitchen with Dan closely aboard at her heels. They emerged through the kitchen`s cream-trim doorway and found themselves face-to-face with Nellie.

"Hey kiddos," she chirped, "Ready for some goodies?" She held out a dragon-design platter resting a bouquet of cookies and a glass filled with milk, nonfat probably. Amy noted as she scanned the contents. Good for keeping you healthy. And strong, adding it as an afterthought.

"Thanks!" said Amy as she maneuvered the plate onto the table with a gentle clink of china clashing with wood.

Table. The word seemed too common to use to name the four-legged object. The table had once belonged to the founders of the Cahill branch themselves. Janus, Ekaterina, Tomas, Lucian, and Madrigal were the branches of the centuries-old family tree. Maybe. . . The term, "Family Heirloom" had a nice ring to it. That is what she would call it, the Cahill family heirloom. She brushed her hands over the worn tabletop, feeling the grooves and memorizing the touch of it. A rainbow of faded colors lay nestled within the cracks, giving it a splash of warmth. A few traces of hastily written scribbles and calculations were visible barely. A lesser person might have thrown it away to rot years ago, but Amy Cahill knew better. These were all written by a broken family, many years ago. Her ancestors. The heirloom brought on nostalgia and longing when looked upon, if mixed, resulted in a brew that had a particularly warm feeling. It felt of home.

"Mm!" Dan`s voice ripper through her consciousness as scissors through paper. He brandishes the half-eaten pastry like a trophy, "This here cookie is more than just a simple snack, it symbolizes how great I—"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the melodic chime of the doorbell ringing, sparing the others from his noble speech. Amy rushed to the door gratefully. Swinging it open, she found herself face-to-face with Sinead Starling.

"It`s you!" she managed to sputter.

"It`s me!" Sinead agreed.

Sinead enwrapped her skinny but surprisingly strong arms around Amy bearing a smile that was a size too big for her face.

"Amy!" she bubbled, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, "It`s been way to long!"

Amy was puzzled, and as a matter of fact, downright terrified. Sinead was a Vesper. She still was a Vesper, as far as she knew. And Vespers should not be trusted. Simple math. Even the Vesper math sense would come to similar proportions as her own.

Sinead elbowed her way in, still babbling aimlessly. Amy did catch a few words, "So as I was saying, Ames, we really need to catch up! It`s been so long!"

As Sinead shepherded Amy toward in the direction of the kitchen, Amy`s mind raced a million miles an hour trying to decipher what Sinead`s motives were. Dan appeared in the shag-carpeted hallway, equipped with an armful of delectable croissants and scones no doubt a product of Nellie`s cooking.

"Agh!" he yelped, fumbling and spilling his load onto the floor, "Vesper alert! Code red! Run for your measly insignificant lives!"

"Silly little Dan!" Sinead beamed, "Is that the right way to treat a house guest?" She meticulously plucked one of the remaining unsoiled pastries from his outstretched hands and began to chomp ferociously on it.

"Hey, that was mine!" Dan protested.

His jade green eyes narrowed, and he issued a low guttural growl deep from within his throat. Nellie arrived on the scene engrossed in one of her many French cooking books.

"Who was that at the door, my kiddos?" she caught sight of maniacally smiling Sinead and looked back and forth between the trio. "Well then! I will be camping out in my room so you can properly make our err . . . guest feel comfy! If you need me, think twice because I will be listening to music and will not here any knocking whatsoever. So don`t bug me!" and on note, she practically made a beeline for the stairs.

Amy shifted nervously on her feet. Averting her gaze away from everyone awkwardly, she concentrated on other objects around the room. A silk rug crafted from rare spider silk and outrageously priced. A gift from the Kabra`s. Would have been a nice gesture if they did not had to defuse a time bomb.

"So my best friends," Sinead purred, "what do you want to do first?"

Dan started picking up the various pastries off the lightly powder-sugar dusted floor, gritting his teeth in annoyance.

"I know exactly what to do!" he smirked, much like the red devil might and continued on, "How about you and Amy dear go upstairs and hang out, maybe pour over those delicious tabloids she seems to live on."

Amy gave him her deluxe I-will-kill-you-later glare. "Okay then. Come with me."

"Okay Amy!" Sinead said cheerily

As they headed into her bedroom, Amy trudging while Sinead seemed to bounce, Amy attempted to make some conversation, it was no hardship. "So Sinead, what exactly brings you here? We are actually a bit wrapped up in something right now."

"That's no problem, just give me a room and I will be as silent as a little mousy for the next six months or so. You have a guest room, I presume" she answered

Amy choked, momentarily stunned. "Ditto." She jiggled the steel doorknob. "Here we are."

Sinead gasped theatrically, "Wow, this is an amazing room!"

She leapt on to the feather pillow decorated bed with zest and jumped off almost immediately, probably spotting something else "amazing".

"What a beautiful wardrobe!" she burst running her fingers over the oaken wood and knots. She swung open it`s double doors. "You already got me clothes too!" She removed an elegant turquoise blouse, fingering it`s material.

Coughing, a bit embarrassed, Amy informed, "This is my room, Sinead."

"Oh! Sinead stared at the article of clothing in her hands longingly.

"I suppose you can borrow it for today, thought." Amy smiled weakly, "But I want it back soon."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said, "I will remember that gesture forever!"

"It`s no biggy, honestly. "Amy offered, "Your room is second down the hall, by the way." She sighed with relief after she plopped herself onto the bed. It had been a long day, after all. She needed to rest, but first, she had to deal with Sinead.

Sinead sat on the floor, directly in front of Amy, "So . . . what have you been occupying your time with other than pondering my mysterious disappearance for exactly two years, thirty two days, and three hours. Roughly." Sinead probed, her hand pattering the ground.

_Did she ever keep still?_  
"Well," Amy absently ran her fingers over a stray fuzzy brown teddy bear`s pelt, "Dan and me have been training in martial arts. And he is really into ninja weapons, ever since we visited a village nearby Mount Everest. What about you?"

"Err. . ." Amy could of sworn she saw Sinead`s eyes blaze for a moment full of fire, and her relaxed position tense.

_Maybe I am just imagining things. . ._

"I have been traveling, all around the world, London, Milwaukee, all of those good places."

A faint warning bell rang in Amy`s head. Where have I heard those names before? Not recently, surely. Before she could ponder the astray thought any further, the drumming sound of knocking on the door cut off her thoughts.

"Are you coming down to lunch?" Dan`s voice called out, "Or did Sinead like, eat you? By the way, since Nellie is in her room and not cooking, I cooked lunch, it's the Dan Mystery Dish! For a limited time only.

"Coming," she called out, "You hungry, Sinead? It's the Dan mystery mush, for better or worse."

Sinead jumped to her feet, "You bet, I hope it`s something de-lish!"

**A/N: Whoa! I never realized how long this is! And I have been working for an hour and a half! I guess this will be a multi-chapter. Don`t kill me guys! The horror and gore will come ****soon! ****Please review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_I Am Your Only Friend Left, Yours Truly_

_Chapter Two:_

**A/N: YES! There is a gore scene here, took a whole page to describe! Please do not skip over parts, I worked two hours on this! ;) Enjoy, my horror-lover fans!**

The Daniel Cahill Special was in fact delicious. If you had a sweet tooth, which Amy unfortunately lacked.

"What in the name of Gideon Cahill is this sludge, Toxic waste?" Amy shifted her slightly bent silverware through the torrent of well, it assumed an identity of a maze of snake spaghetti and a tidal wave of chocolate syrup. Definitely a flood occurred with the latter.

"Mm!" came Sinead`s enthusiastic response, "This is delicious!"

Queer, Amy though, Sinead is acting a bit off-color. Actually she is being a _lot _more than just off-color. She is being crazy. Or bipolar. Either of the two wordings would work. She was so uptight and snarky, during there last encounter three years past. Perhaps, traveling made her more . . . sparky.

Amy touched the tip of her fork to her taste buds cautiously, the substance tasted of the unique flavor of cocoa. Definitely chocolate. And pasta. An intriguing combo of ingredients. Thank the bloody gods above. Now, time for revenge as sweet as this dish . . .

"Dan!" Amy sang in a sing-song voice. He parked his head up, oblivious that his nose was smeared with the gunky syrup. "Why don`t you give Sinead the grand tour of your ninja weapons, she seemed pretty fascinated when I mentioned it twenty minutes ago. Then I can rest for a while."

Sinead clapped her scarred hands enthusiastically, "I would love to, my best friend. It . . . it`s just going to be me and old Dan right?" She ventured, "Just the two of us, alone, righty?"

"Yes." confirmed Amy, "You and him! It will be a good time for you two to bond!"

Dan seemed to warm up to the idea considerably, probably due to that he had an opportunity to show his weaponry. "Are ya coming Sinead? You have just got to see my dojo room!" He barreled off, not bothering to look back. "We will be back for dinner!"

Good and done with, Amy smiled relieved. The big weight was temporarily taken off her shoulders. They would probably be occupied for hours in there. But why, why did she still have that lump of ever-growing dread since Sinead took residence at Grace`s Mansion?

Shaking aside the thought for the future, Amy settled herself down by the large, airy window at the crest of the house. She deserved this niche in time for relaxation, not arguing internally. Solitaire would be a good start. Or a book.

/

Bored. Amy Cahill, heir to the Madrigal branch leader, was bored to death. No matter what words she used to describe the feeling, she was still plain bored. She could not place why she was bored. She finally had free time, away from the rest of Cahills. It was a golden opportunity to just have fun! They were awfully quiet up there . . . She tried to occupy herself with anything for as long as possible for the past three hours. Polish the beloved "family heirloom" table top. Rearrange the knick knacks in ten unique combinations. Read the "A" section of the dictionary and memorize it. Sort of, she gave up after "Abraham Lincoln." Dan could have accomplished that easily, with his photographic memory. Then it hit her like a bullet. She was missing Dan. The annoying little brother was a shade of vibrant orange in her otherwise dull black and white life. He was a joy to be around. Then she decided. I will fetch Dan away from Sinead right now. He is my little ninja brother.

As she rose from the plush cushion seat by the window to join her quirky kung fu-obsessed companions, Sinead walked slowly into the room, her flat`s low heels clicking.

"Shruiken." she stated in monotone, "Shruiken. Daniel. Planted deeply within the western temple."

"What in the world are you talking about?" asked Amy first confused, her voice filtering out a bit shrilly at the end. "Where`s Dan?"

A horrible thought occurred in her mind. _No, it cannot be. . ._

Amy rushed off toward the "dojo", as Dan drilled into her brain daily to call it. She shoved Sinead out of the way roughly, not taking heed to be polite and avoid her. There was no reason to anyway; she appeared to be in a trance of some sort.

/

Sinead Starling allowed herself a small knowing smile, not in the assumed state of shock at all. There was still much work to be done.

Oh Amy, my dearest of all cousins, If only you could possibly know.

/

Amy widened her mouth in a silent scream of horror. The diverse weaponry collection, usually so lovingly polished and gleaming, was scattered all around the bamboo hardwood floor. The broad, open window`s childish ninja-gecko curtains always pulled open to air the cheerful dojo, were by the looks of it hastily yanked shut as if to shield the occupants from the pleasantly warm sun—or unwanted prying eyes. And most terrifying, Dan`s mangled body was slumped leaning against one of the rice-paddy walls. At first glance, he appeared to be resting if you overlooked the half- dried crimson paint adorning the embankment, ground, and his face. That was about the point in time when she realized with a shuddering jolt that the paint was not paint at all, but an ingenious mask concealing drying blood stains. And the wide gash that was gushing blood rhythmically with each heartbeat on his forehead. Amy`s blood ran cold, and momentarily she stopped dead in her tracks. Her frantic jade green eyes were locked onto his identical eyes, frozen and staring out at nothing, unable to break his petrifying gaze. When she noticed the dully glinting shruiken nestled in the corner, bloodstained, amid the mass of other weapons standing out alone like a star in the sky, hence it`s shape, she finally came to her senses.

"Dan!" she cried out, then parroted in a softer tone, "Dan!"

She rushed over to his side, applying her hand to his neck. Pressed lightly against his jugular, and when feeling no throbbing of the vein meaning a life-saving pulse, she closed her eyes. He was dead.

_Dead._

"Amy?" a voice came from the opposite side of the room, "Are you okay?"

Go away! Amy wanted to scream and yell every foul word she knew. Also yearning greatly to chuck everything she had with her at the intruding voice. That's when it hit her. Sinead did this. She was the murderer.

A low animal-like growl escaped her throat. She prepared to lunge, to seep every last bit of life out of the sick antagonist. She whirled slowly, an easy grin worn on her face.

"Sinead, my best friend, I have a very special gift for you!"

**A/N: Please review, and yes, much more gore and deaths to come! Will Amy kill Sinead as payment? Was it even her doing? Read the next chapter to find the truth!**


End file.
